ZATT’s Star of the Week, is … Royal Delta!

Talk about a tough decision! With more good choices than any other week so far this year, I was left with the thankless duty of selecting only one star as the best of the week. Without listing them all, suffice it to say there were no less than a dozen performances that were considered, and could have won on a less stellar week. Without further ado, the horse who I have chosen as the best of the best this week is … Royal Delta! Her dominating performance in yesterday’s prestigious Beldame Invitational was not only visually impressive, but it also came at the hands of another grade one quality filly in It’s Tricky. That combination was enough for me to name her ZATT’s Star of the Week.

Taking the race right to It’s Tricky early and often, Royal Delta blew her main competition’s doors off on the way to an ultra-authoritative 9 1/2-length victory in the grade 1 affair. Looking much like a cat to her rival’s mouse, Royal Delta showed more speed than usual as jockey Mike Smith positioned right outside the second choice as the pair enjoyed a sizeable advantage over the rest of the overmatched field. Making a decisive thrust on the far turn, Royal Delta quickly ended any mystery as to would be best on this day. She poured it on early in the stretch and cantered home the easiest kind of winner. Geared down the final sixteenth of a mile, Royal Delta completed the nine furlongs in a solid 1:48.80.

Owned by Benjamin Leon’s Besilu Stable, the sparkling Beldame victory was her third in six starts this year. The champion three-year-old filly of 2011 was purchased by Leon at the Fasig-Tipton mixed sale for $8.5 million last November. Yesterday’s win also raised the lifetime record of the daughter of Empire Maker and Delta Princess to 8-3-1 out of 14 starts, with lifetime earnings of $2,623,851.

In his typical understated manner, trainer Bill Mott had this to say about Royal Delta’s Beldame, “She ran a super race – broke well, took it to the horse on the lead and she was much the best today. Just a very impressive performance.”

Despite a few rumblings of the star four-year-old filly heading to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and a date to face the boys, all indications appear that her connections will instead point for another run in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, where she would be attempting to become only the second horse ever to win the premier race for older females twice. The Ladies’ Classic is shaping up to be as strong as any race on the World Championships two-day card, but seeing what we saw yesterday, it would be hard to discount her chances.

Older Comments about ZATT’s Star of the Week, is … Royal Delta!...

They should run this filly in the BC Classic against the boys instead of the Ladies Classic. Royal Delta's much better on dirt than a synthetic surface, which is what she faced males over in the Dubai World Cup.

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Brian has been a passionate fan of horse racing his entire life. Taken to the races at a very young age, he has been lucky enough to see all the greats in person from Secretariat, Forego, and Ruffian through Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, and American Pharoah. Before coming to the Nation, Brian displayed his love for the sport through the development of his horse racing website, which quickly became one of the most popular blogs in the game.

The Editor of Horse Racing Nation from 2010-2017, Brian authored a daily column as Zipse at the Track, or ZATT for short, and added his editorial flare to the overall content of the website. Now a Senior Writer for HRN, Brian continues to contribute his thoughts on racing, as well as co-hosting the popular racing show, HorseCenter. A big supporter of thoroughbred aftercare, he serves as the President of The Exceller Fund.

Brian's work has also been published on several leading industry sites. He has consulted for leading contest site Derby Wars, is both a Hall of Fame and NTRA poll voter, and is a Vox Populi committee member.

A horse owner and graduate of DePaul University, Brian lives just outside of Louisville with his wife Candice and daughter Kendra.